The present invention relates generally to shaving razors, and more particularly, to a dual razor assembly having to razor heads at opposite ends of the assembly.
Conventionally, a manual shaver includes a handle and a shaving head at one end of the handle, with the shaving head adapted to hold a razor assembly therein. The razor assembly can hold one or more parallel blades for shaving purposes. For example, two or more parallel blades may be mounted one behind the other for the purpose of producing a closer shave. However, because of this arrangement, the razor can only shave in one direction at a time.
Further, because such razors are held by the handle during shaving, the force applied by the shaving head on the skin is a result of a torque or moment of force, rather than a direct force on the razor head. As a result, it is more difficult to control the shaving operation.
Still further, each time the razor is raised up from the skin and placed down on another location of the skin for shaving, the occurrence of nicks and cuts on the skin becomes greater. In other words, nicks and cuts generally do not occur while the razor is in contact with the skin during a shaving operation.
In this regard, it is known to provide a dual shaving razor assembly that includes two razor heads, one at each end thereof. With these types of dual shaving razor assemblies, the user's index and ring fingers are positioned directly over the respective razor heads for better control of the shaving operation. In addition, because of the use of two razor heads, the dual shaving razor assembly can shave bi-directionally in two opposite directions, thereby reducing the shaving time as well. Examples of such dual shaving razor assemblies are shown in PCT Patent Publication No. WO 2012/120499 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0288350.
However, with such known dual shaving razor assemblies, the angles and orientations of the razor heads cannot be satisfactorily controlled.
For example, in PCT Patent Publication No. WO 2012/120499, the shaving cartridges are fixed in a non-rotatable manner to the main body which is constituted by a flexible arch. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 of this patent publication, in order to adjust the angle of the shaving cartridges relative to the skin surface, and thereby, the angle of the shaving blades relative to the skin surface, a downward pressure is applied to the center of the flexible arch. As can be seen from the drawings, the cartridges are now in greater pressure contact with the skin.
This arrangement has the disadvantage that a relatively large pressure must be applied to the flexible arch. This is because of the relatively thick main body. This large pressure, in turn, results in a large pressure being applied to the shaving cartridges, which is disadvantageous from a shaving perspective. Specifically, the free end of each shaving cartridge is rotated upwardly relative to the skin surface with the bending of the flexible arch or main body. As a result, a large amount of pressure is applied to the shaving cartridges. It would be much more desirable to rotate the free end of each shaving cartridge in an opposite downward direction, whereby the shaving cartridge merely lies on top of the skin without such greater pressure added thereto.
In addition, this patent publication is limited in that both shaving cartridges must be rotated at the same time with the same pressure. This is because of the downward pressure applied to the center of the flexible arch. It would be much more desirable to separately control the rotation of, and pressure on, each shaving cartridge.
Lastly, because of the unitary body construction of the flexible arch, there is no transverse rotation of the shaving cartridges relative to each other, thereby providing even less shaving control.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0288350 discloses another known dual shaving razor assembly. In the first embodiment of FIGS. 1-7, there is no rotation of shaving cartridges relative to the sides 160 and 170 of the arch 150. In other words, the shaving cartridges are fixed in position to the ends of the sides 160 and 170. This is because of the rectangular unnumbered inwardly extending projections shown best at the ends of the arms 211 in FIG. 1B of this patent publication, which fit within corresponding rectangular recesses in the ends of the shaving cartridges.
In the second embodiment of FIGS. 8-14 of this patent publication, although semi-circular leg feet 330 are provided at the ends of legs 324 for insertion within circular openings in the shaving cartridges, this patent publication provides additional structure to ensure that there is no rotation of the shaving cartridges relative to the arms. Specifically, to prevent rotation in a first direction, handle supports 335 are added which contact the retainment body support 325 extending upwardly from the center of each shaving cartridge. As stated in paragraph [0065], this functions to prevent or limit rotation of the razor cartridges while the razor is in use. This is because handle supports 335 are rigid members which are not capable of flexing. If handle supports 335 were flexible, they would not prevent or limit rotation of the razor cartridges. To prevent rotation in the second opposite direction, triangular shaped projections extend from the bottom of legs 320, at the free ends thereof, for engaging a respective surface of the shaving cartridge. Thus, rotation of the shaving cartridges relative to the legs is prevented.
For this reason, this patent is intended to apply only one shaving cartridge at a time in contact with the skin during a shaving operation, as stated in paragraph [0069] of this patent publication. As such, this razor operates in a similar manner to a conventional razor which must be continuously picked up from the skin and replaced in contact with the skin at a different location. As discussed above, such an operation results in nicks and cuts on the skin.
Further, since the shaving cartridges in this patent publication do not rotate relative to the main body, control of the shaving operation, and particularly, the orientation of the shaving cartridges and pressure applied, is restricted, producing a less than desirable shaving operation.
Thus, this patent publication still suffers from the deficiencies of PCT Patent Publication No. WO 2012/120499, as discussed above.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a dual shaving razor assembly, which permits separate rotation of each shaving cartridge relative to the main body in order to merely place the shaving cartridge on skin at a different angle without applying undue pressure, while retaining both shaving cartridges in contact with the skin during a shaving operation. It would also be desirable to provide for transverse rotation of each shaving cartridge relative to the other to provide even more control in the shaving operation.